Today’s dividend: Lowe’s

I took another couple steps today, picking up a share of IBM early this afternoon before a dividend from Lowe’s (LOW) hit my account a few hours after the closing bell.

Lowe’s

Lowe’s has been on an absolute tear since I added it to my portfolio back in December of 2016. I picked up a share for $73.22 and, last I checked, it was trading at around $100. That’s a 36% gain in a little more than a year … a gain I’d certainly like to see replicated this year, next year, the year after that and, heck, maybe even the year after that.

Is that asking too much?

The share has earned me a handful of dividends so far, with today’s coming in at $0.41 – the same amount as each of the previous two. In all, I’m up to $20.90 in divi income so far this month and $56.64 this year.

If the numbers seem off from previous posts it’s because I totally missed a $2.44 dividend from TD Bank on the first of the month. It hit my account, but somehow I overlooked it. The dividend payment date was in January, but, for some reason, Robinhood always gets me the payments from the Canadian companies a few days after the fact.

Anyway, back to today’s dividend.

Lowe’s only has a dividend yield of about 1.64%, but that number is slowly on the rise. The company has raised its payment for 56 straight years, most recently at a 20% annual clip over the course of the last five. Lowe’s is, as far as I can tell, the prototypical dividend-growth stock. The company has a really, really long history of paying dividends and a great track record when it comes to raising them. With a payout ratio under 40%, it’s also conservative with its payments.

Now, let’s talk about today’s purchase …

International Business Machines

I usually don’t buy stocks on days I pick up dividends, but I made an exception today by scooping up a share of International Business Machines (IBM) for $154.58. The purchase bumped my position up to four shares and lowered my cost-basis to $160.60. My four shares are worth $614 (about 3.74% of my portfolio).

I don’t really have a great reason for buying IBM, but, like I said, lowering the cost-basis was a factor. On top of that, I noticed the ex-dividend date is tomorrow and wanted a piece of that $6 annualized dividend. That had a hand in the decision as well.

I don’t know all the ins and outs of IBM, but I know the company, despite its recent inability to grow its earnings, still makes a boatload of money … something like $11.96 a share. With a P/E ratio of 12.99 and a dividend with a yield of 3.86%, I’ll take my chances with Big Blue. IBM seems to be a nice way to play the blockchain angle, which people seem to think will be huge down the road. I personally don’t know the first thing about blockchain – I don’t even know if I’m spelling it right – but it sounds cool.

So far this week …

I received a $0.75 dividend from PNC on Monday and created $3.96 worth of forward annual dividend income thanks to purchases of Proctor & Gamble and Ford on Tuesday. Today’s $0.41 dividend from Lowe’s and purchase of IBM add to those numbers, bringing this week’s dividends to $1.16 and forward annual income created to $9.96.

Considering one of my goals this year is to increase my forward annual income by $10 a month, I’m more than happy with what I’ve accomplished so far this week. Heck, I’ll probably reach that goal by the end of it.